Meet the Family: Kitty

I never thought I would own a cat.  I am allergic to them, so I have typically avoided them in the past.  But I do have a weakness for them.  There is just something about a sleeping cat.. for me I just want to snuggle up to one.  I love the purring and the funny kneading that they do to get a blanket or pillow just right.

During the fall of 2007, when Rylan was in the 15-18 month range, there was a juvenile kitty named Calliope that would visit our house every day.  We spent a lot of time outside in the front yard playing in the leaves and such.  Little Calliope would come over from a nearby cul-de-sac and rub up against Rylan and Jordan.  They just *loved* her.  Rylan would ask for a kitty all the time.  Some time around November Calliope stopped visiting.  We don't know why, but I suspect that she fell victim to either a car or a fox.

That January, on a bitter cold late afternoon, a couple who were out on a walk knocked on our door.  The gentleman was holding a small grey tiger cat and asked if the cat was ours (she had a collar but no tags).  She had hunkered down by some bushes near our garage door and looked pretty pitiful.  I said that she wasn't, but that we could take her and contact the humane society, since they were out for a walk and couldn't very well carry around a cat.  Big mistake.

Abby was thrilled to have a cat in the house.  And not in a good way.  Rylan was thrilled to have a kitty - and thought it was now hers.  Jordan wanted to keep her too.    I called the humane society and found out they closed in forty minutes.  We drove her down there and they scanned her for microchips and searched the database.  No chips, and no one was looking for her.  I turned around and there were two little kids, looking at me with sad, "Can we keep her?" eyes.  I called Dean.  And then I paid a visit to PetsMart. 

I had no idea what a cat needed.  We were allowed to keep her during the mandatory waiting period for her owner to come looking for her.  If she was still unclaimed at the end of two weeks, we could keep her.  So I didn't want to spend a ton in case it didn't work out.

So as you can probably tell, it worked out.  Abby had a sore nose for about a week, until she and Kitty reached an 'understanding' and Kitty showed she was boss.  They now get along quite nicely, and even play once in awhile.  We named her Chloe, but for whatever reason we all call her Kitty.  We go to the vet and and she asks "How's Chloe?", and I respond with an intelligent sounding "Huh?".  Kitty has never bothered me or Dean allergy-wise, and we give her frequent baths to keep it that way.

She is a very expensive kittycat too.  A couple of years ago, I was working on a sewing project, and she batted loose a pin from the fabric and swallowed it, all in about 10 seconds.  If I hadn't been sitting there and seen her do it, I would have had no idea.  Forty-five minutes later, in the vet office, the x-ray showed that the pin had already traveled through the stomach and into the top of the small colon.  She is now the thousand dollar kitty.

I have to say that my favorite thing is when she curls up in my lap.  Absolute bliss.

40 Things I've never done before: #1 Mammogram



There's nothing quite like celebrating your impending 40th birthday by getting your boobs squished as flat as a pancake.  Twice.  Each.  Good times.  I went to the same clinic  for my mammogram that I went to for each of my pregnancies (midwives) and I still go there for my annual.  They really do have excellent care there, and the staff are fantastic.  This appt. was no exception.  I was there a total of 22 min. from start to finish.  The technician (female!) really knew how to push, pull, smooth, flatten, wedge, squish and coax things into just the right position for each scan.  I should have felt molested - but it is for a good cause.  And forget about dignity...You lose that the first time you give birth, and a whole second team of Dr.s (male) arrive to survey the scene and all of a sudden you have twelve different people looking at parts of your body you yourself haven't been able to see for at least six months.  Nice.

So, the results should arrive in about a week.  I'm not nervous, but I am glad to finally have one under my belt.  Thank goodness for the fact that so far, (knock on wood), no female family member of mine has ever been diagnosed with breast cancer.  If they found anything - anything - I would get a double mastectomy in a flash.  Are you kidding me?  The chance to get a total breast reduction - and get it covered by insurance - yes!!

So what is 40 Things?  I saw a post  (go right now and read it... I'll wait) and I thought that sounded like a great idea!  Don't you love that cake tower?  I am going to make that for my 40th birthday cake.  Unfortunately we don't have many coconut fans in the family, but I don't care.  It is beautiful, I love chocolate and coconut, so I am going to make it.  I guess that can be one of my 40 things because I have never made lamingtons before.  I am going to spread the challenge across the year - because some of the things on my list are pretty ambitious.  I've only got seven things on my list (okay, now it's eight... the cake!), so I need to get some more ideas.  I suppose that it is a good thing I am having a hard time coming up with stuff - I've been a busy gal for the past 40 years!  I've experienced a lot, I've traveled a lot - but I know there are several places to go yet, and lots of things to do.  I've also got to keep the list realistic and doable.  "Go on a cruise" isn't going to work...  But I have already done that, so never mind.  I was also four months old and don't remember a thing about it.

So I am going to go back to this cake post for a second.  It is crazy where Internet searches lead you to.  I was initially looking for a recipe for Bavarian cream.  A cake this blogger made, featured in another post of hers, was filled with Bavarian cream, so it came up when I googled it.  It was maybe tenth on the list?   But what a food blog!!  She is amazing.  I can't pronounce anything, but she is amazing anyway.